Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-06
EXCHANGE FOR WOMEN.
THE GOOD WORK 1T Is ACCOM-
PLISHING IN GOTHAM.


Howe has been engaged since the days
the New Orleans Exhibition, at first by tn
maintenance OF an industrial column
the Woman's journal and later by pr
waite correspondence, in a study OF tn
industrial condition of women IN tn
United States, more especially as re
CARDS the home Industries, or the Varit
ties of work that are, or may be, pun
sued by women whose activities are I'm
ited by home responsibilities.
In conversation with MIS-. Howe upOI
the results OF her Investigations some Int
tie time since, she said to me that one Oh
ject in all she had been doing was t.
bring forward, If pOssI6 q, faadJut0Ts Wn'
should consider what opening there migh
he. if apy. for central ora aniZatiOn, viii
branches in the different cities Of The
country, which should act as medium
OF communication between the woman
hemmed in bv her little world OF home
loves and nome burdens, aud the yet un
developed market, which might take tC
its own advantage the work OF her
fingers and make those burdens HShteI
by tae taking.
The plan that Mrs. Howe thus outlined
might be supplemented, she iolu me, II
fhe scheme ever took form and body, by
yyomen's industrial congresses, whose
yearly gatherings, now here, now there,
might carry kno ledge OF the work TO
every quarter OF the country, and might
serve as rallying points for thoughtful
women interested in the economic pro-
gress of their own sex.
The scheme is not an impracticable one
surely, ard is worthy TO engage the best
thought of woman who has given much
time to the interests OF women. The
work iiselris OF something the same sort as
that with which the wOmen'S exchanges
have for some time been experimenting
on a smaller scale, and it needs but little
experience in these 10 teach one the need
of its doing. 1t was on casual visit,
indeed, to the lunch room OF the New
York Woman's Exchange, at 329 Fifth
avenue, one day this past week, mat got
a better idea than any description can
convey of the women the exchanges are
helping, the sort OF help they need and
the opeBing there is for more cOmprehen-
sjye work OF the Kind Mrs. Howe has sug-
gested.
| was sitting al little table facing the
door. when voice with strained under.
tone OF anxiety beneath its composure
caught my ear, and l looked up to see
woman whose history was written on her
face plainly enough and IN sufficient de-
tail TO spare Mr.. HOwells all intellectual
effort in putting on paper diary OF her
existence.
She carried an old-time, carpet-coyered
travelling bag, the weight OF hich pulled
her jgure slightly to one side. She was
middle-aged, and came from the country.
Her hard, common sense features had
been nodded by years of dishes and
foors and cook stoves and beds aud
stairs and house-cleauIng and d3rning
baskets, and going to church oseuhday
and hearing little of what the minister
Raid tor planning the work on Monday,
She was ''practicai' woman in the for
lornest sense of an abused word. she
wore a WIDOWS veil, and the words that
] had unwIttingly overheard completed
her history.
AT you would only taste it, know
you would lind it good; the recipe has
been in our family for fifty years, and
have brou ght it so tar to-day"
1t was .'cho y CHOW" that she was of
fering to the bright little brunette who
stood before her planning the kindest
way to reject the offered glass and
spoon. Pickles they haC in abundance,
IL was gently explained, more than theV
could sell before spring, and they never
accepted goods with tin tons upon the
Jars. II sue had wished to en'er any
thing for sale she should have written be-
forehand t. ask what goods market
could be found ior-l hardly noted the eX-
PLANTATION Tor watching the disappO Mt
ment grow in that nard-featuTed face
VIII re the last hope had died away OF
pIecing out. perhaps, a slender income
and keeping her Little folks at school, now
that The bread-winner had drOpped away
from them. There is hardly a more help
less or hopeless position than that In
which modern civilization leaves SO
many women brought up to housekeeping
and homemaking, when the money sup
plv fails them a. an aye at which the IA
Pility that can turn from one occupation
k0another has left them, and sek-suppurt
looks as imp ssible a executing o4e OF
Beethoven's symphonies with those work
ltitfened tingers.
there was comparatively little work OF
any marNet value tuat my woman could
do, and she stood in imminent need Of
somebody wise and intelligent enough to
point out that little end the best way of
realizing dollars upon it. That the New
York EXcbange-lhe pioneer orgauIza-
ton of its sort in the country ana now
In It's ninth year-is dong good work
in this very direction, | believe; tor when
] went up stairs into its parlOrs Tor needle
work and art goods, | came upon IA plump
checked, round little BODY. who had Iust
brought in consignment OF fine drawn
work in linen. Playing the buey BODY
once more. noticed the smiles dancing In
the corners OF her mouth ana heard her
say. as she laid down her bundle, that her
work always sold faster than she eX-
pected it to. SIX hundred and eleven dol.
lars | learned, on inquiry, this cheerful
little woman had been help q to earn
within the past year, though her first ven
lures in the line of need ewOrk had been
so s0ileG and unsatisfactory that they
could not be accepted.
The Woman's EXchange-and it is here
that the trained intelligence and expert
ence that Mrs. Howe would Ike to see
put into her proposed central organiza.
tion would come in play-nas not merely
60 keen open doors where one may come
aud buy, but to educate industriaIly the
women IL IL trying TO help. Tie New
FORK Exchange. without such nelp, is eX-
perrin, ntlnR, believe. 10 the right uirec.
lion. AT each successive visit notice
that II is eliminating with more and more
TgOr the ordinary church fair style of
clancy" wCrk-with little or no fancy IN
it-whioh mas been the baue OF every
similar enterprise wherever started, and
is Introducing, us fast as IL can tram
women to furnish them and OuNers To
look to IL Tor their supply, articles OF
practical use, which are bought not for
charity's sake but because they ill n real
want, discovering by successive expert
Inents what work women can proutabl,
do at home, and reaching out on the other
hand to the cityiul Of purchasers, study